Here are the teachers I recall, along with their nicknames and some other details.

Mr  Wright (Nairobi Joe) taught physics and was 1F’s register teacher that year. He was a tall gentleman with dark wavy hair who wore glasses and spoke with an Australian accent. An exceptionally nice bloke, though how or why he acquired his ‘nick’ I cannot say. Former pupils may also recall his ubiquitous grey lab coat and the fact that he seldom (if ever) wore socks.

Mr William Brown (Wee Sammy), our maths teacher, was a young man and a dab hand with the strap. I understand Mr Brown acquired his nickname while he himself had been a pupil at The Academy not long before we first encountered him. He was very good at taking pupils away on trips to Inveralligin, and participating in other extra curricular activities.

Mr Liddell (Pregnant Pete) - Music. However, this being one of the subjects for which classes were split along gender lines and merged, only 1F & 1G boys were taught by Mr Liddell (the gurls got Miss Fyfe - a tall, slim reserved lady with greying hair). Mr Liddell’s classes were great fun, though not quite so for him meseems. You couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor man. We were such a bawdy lot. Whereas, Mr Liddell’s nickname likely derived from the fact he was stout.

Miss McCardle - History. 1F got this teacher last period every Monday immediately after PE. I can remember sitting in her classes, dripping with sweat and ‘honking’ a bit - just like everybody else. There were no showers at Rutherglen Academy. Miss McCardle was a petite young woman (around 24) with black hair, done up in a sort of ‘bun’ at the back. She wore black-rimmed spectacles, spoke with a rather strident voice and also taught German to 1G. Plus - after school at four, her daddy often collected her in his car. Extremely cute we thought.